Menzel (Djerba)

''Menzel'' (Arabic: منزل, lit. "villa"; pronounced in Modern Standard Arabic as ''"manzul"'') is a type of dwelling and agricultural property typical of the Tunisian island of Djerba.

The spatial ensemble consisting of the dwelling and associated agricultural plots is usually owned by an extended family and typically occupies between two and five hectares planted with palm trees, olive trees, fruit trees, sorghum, cereals, and vegetable farming. Depending on the region where it is implanted, the ''menzel'' has one or several wells or cisterns for irrigating the fields.

Description

A ''menzel'' is made up of several housing units (''houch''), surrounded by orchards and fields. Sometimes associated with the ''menzel'' are weaving workshops, barns, olive oil winery (often underground). Each ''menzel'' has a variable number of wells or cisterns and is surrounded by slopes (''habia'') with defensive functions, where palm trees, cactus hedges ( prickly pear trees), agaves and aloes are planted that increase privacy and protect against dust and sand invasion. It is usually inhabited by three generations of the same family.

Historically, and similar to the peculiar mosques of Djerba, the ''menzels'' had defensive functions and therefore have characteristics of small fortresses. Some scholars suggest that the basic floor plan of the ''menzels'' may have originated from the Roman ''limes'' forts (fortified frontiers) that existed in southern Tunisia, what is now the province of Tataouine.

The ''houch''

The ''houch'', the ''menzel'' living areas, are square or rectangular, with no windows to the outside. The windows usually open into an inner courtyard, around which are two to four dwelling blocks (''dar'') of varying size, usually covered by vaults and domes, which provide very effective thermal insulation against heat. The ''dar'' can be divided by internal partitions, doors, or simple curtains (''kella''), where one finds the ''sedda'' or ''doukkana'' (sleeping rooms), ''magsoura'' (small rooms), ''el-khzana'' (pantry), and ''mesthan'' or ''moust-han'' (small bathrooms without toilet). The ''doukkana'', the winter bedroom, has a vaulted ceiling and has an ''ed-dokkana'', a raised bench-like platform about 50 cm high, which serves as a bed. Next to one of its extremities is a wall niche (''taga'') that serves as a bedside table. In one corner there is a small orifice to the outside, the ''el-midhouaya'', which allows to see the sunrise, that is, to know when it is time to get up. The ''moust-han'' has a rudimentary shower, consisting of a clay pot (''el-briq''), hung between two stakes above head height. In the ''el-khzana,'' olive oil, date palms, and cereals were kept in large amphorae (''sefri''). In the past, boys who married obtained their own apartment in the ''houch'' from their parents.


The ''sqifa'', located at the entrance, is the area of the ''menzel'' where its inhabitants gather and also serves to receive neighbors and less important visitors. For the more important visitors, wealthier families usually have a ''makhzin dhiafa'', a block independent or attached to the ''houch'', which often has an entrance to the outside. Another part of the ''menzel'' is the ''khouss'', a construction made of palm trunks where the kitchen and the bathroom are located. The kitchen can also be a somewhat autonomous part, and is then called the ''matbakh''. The bathroom with toilet is called ''knif'' or ''mihadh''. The washing area, the ''houch el bir'', where the pots of water - usually brackish - that is used in washing jobs that do not include detergents, are kept.

In some cases, in addition to these parts the ''houch'' has one or more ghorfas,The term ghorfa is usually associated with the alveoli, or cubicles that are the basic element of the Alcaciers of the Maghreb, a kind of barns and fortified warehouses, but in Djerba, when applied to ''menzels'' it has a different meaning. towers or square blocks higher than the rest of the houch, situated at the corners. Access to the ghorfas is by a rigid internal staircase without handrail, under which there may be a deep niche (''el-mkhaba'') where the ''et-tass'' was kept, a small amphora with a wide neck where barley flour used as a base for ''zammita'' (or ''zommita''), one of the most traditionally eaten dishes in Djerba, especially at breakfast. During the hot season, the ''menzels'' caps are used as sleeping quarters because of their coolness. They are the only parts of the ''menzel'' that have small openings facing outward, judiciously oriented so as to capture the sea breeze, which cools the interior.

Furniture

The furniture is generally simple and austere. The beds are simple mattresses placed directly on top of mats (''h'sira'') or on masonry platforms or stools (''sedda'' or ''doukkana''). There are chests or large pots for storing clothes, ''marfaa'' (kind of coat hangers), ''sofra'' or ''mida'' (kind of low tables where one eats sitting on mats or long, low cushions called ''gaada''). Food reserves were kept in large baked clay pots (''khabia'', ''tass'', ''zir'' or ''sefri''), manufactured centuries ago in the village of Guellala, which is also the source of all the traditional dishes of Djerba.The type of dishes made in Guellal were already used by the Romans for the export of olive oil from Djerba to Rome.

Cisterns

In view of the low rainfall (less than 250 mm per year) and the consequent lack of drinking water, the Djerbans have gained the habit of building cisterns to collect and store rainwater through impluviums.In a strict sense, an impluvium was an uncovered courtyard or tank existing in Ancient Roman houses where rainwater flowing from roofs was collected. In French, the Latin term is also used to denote other similar systems for collecting and storing rainwater. (see ''Impluvium'' in the French Wikipedia) There are two types of cisterns: ''feskia'' or ''fesghia'' and ''majen'' or ''majel''. The first ones are usually underground, rectangular or square in shape, and are located outside the ''houch''. The second ones resemble huge, wide open carboys, and are mostly built inside the inner courtyard of the ''houch''. The ''majen'' and ''feskia'' collect the rainwater that falls on the roof of the dwellings, terraces and courtyards, which are whitewashed with quicklime (''jir'') every year before the wet season in order to ensure some hygiene. This system of rainwater collection already existed in Roman times, and large cisterns were discovered in the ancient city of Meninx. In 1967 it was estimated that the area used by impluviums in Djerba was about 1,000,000 m².

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{{Portalbar, Architecture

Culture of Tunisia
Djerba